


Untitled Curse Workers Fic

by Emjen_Enla



Category: Curse Workers Series - Holly Black
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 3: Black Heart, Cassel's Plans Go Wrong, Deliberately Out Of Character, Gen, Philip Sharpe Lives, Philip and Barron Are Good Guys AU, Philip and Barron Aren't Using Cassel AU, being set up, framing someone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:27:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27121789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emjen_Enla/pseuds/Emjen_Enla
Summary: Cassel's plans go awry, but fortunately someone arrives to rescue him.This is an unfinished, abandoned work being posted as part of the Good Intentions Abandoned WIP Fest.
Relationships: Cassel Sharpe & Barron Sharpe, Cassel Sharpe & Daneca Wasserman, Cassel Sharpe & Grandad (Curse Workers), Cassel Sharpe & Philip Sharpe, Cassel Sharpe & Sam Yu
Kudos: 2
Collections: Good Intentions: Abandoned and Unfinished WIPs





	Untitled Curse Workers Fic

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. What is this fic?  
> This is an AU where Philip doesn't die at the beginning of Red Glove and Cassel gets framed by the Feds during his Gov. Patton scheme. This fragment is actually from the center of the fic; it has no beginning or ending.
> 
> 2\. Why is it untitled?  
> I'm a bad titler and generally don't title my wips until I finish them.
> 
> 3\. Why were you writing a fic where Philip and Barron aren't evil? It's that kinda the whole point of the series?  
> Back when I first read White Cat, I was disappointed when Philip and Barron turned out to be using Cassel because I thought things would be more interesting if they weren't (what can I say? I love sibling dynamics). I've since written fanfic fixing that. This is actually my second attempt at it. I have a finished fic I wrote before I got my AO3. I'll find it and read it back, if I think it's decent I might consider reposting it to AO3.
> 
> 4\. Why did you abandon this?  
> I didn't know what happened after this beyond some blowback whump involving Philip.
> 
> 5\. Is there any chance you might continue this?  
> Given I have no idea what happens next, no probably not.

“Cassel Sharpe, you are under arrest for the murder of Governor Patton,” the agent said.

“Wait, what?” Cassel asked. He looked around for Yulikova, but she was standing back, her face impassive.

That was when he realized that he’d been set up. Patton was unstable, too unstable to be useful to everyone who was trying to get Article Two passed, so he needed to be gone. The government couldn’t be blamed so they’d brought in Cassel who wasn’t officially part of the LMD and could take the fall.

His heart was racing. He needed to get out of here. He tested the handcuffs and prepared himself to transform, but then someone shoved a handful of transformation charms around his neck. He was trapped.

“And you workers wonder why Article Two needs to exist,” on the agents grumbled. Obviously he wasn’t part of the LMD.

“Hey!” A voice called. “What are you doing?”

Everyone turned and flinched. Cassel craned his neck to see Philip standing in the door of the trailer with a security guard uniform open at the neck to display his mark and his hands bare. Grandad and Barron stood behind him.

Within instants at least half the guns were pointed at Philip. “Sir, put your gloves back on and step outside,” Yulikova said, her gun held out before her. “This is government business and none of your concern.”

“Really?” Philip said. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you’re setting up a seventeen-year-old kid.”

Yulikova literally choked while the agent standing over Cassel just looked a little confused. “You don’t have a good understanding of what’s going on.”

“Oh, I do,” Philip said. “Listen, I know you all have really twisted view of workers outside of your bootlicker organization, but at least in the organized crime business you know that the people you’re working with might stab you in the back because no one’s pretending to have any kind of moral high ground.”

Before any of the agents could respond, Philip lunged forward, fingers outstretched. The agents called out warnings to each other, but they were at a distinct disadvantage because they didn’t want to touch him and couldn’t shoot in the confined quarters. Philip plowed through them like wind through a house of cards.

Yulikova stumbled backward, struggling to get a glove off. Philip saw her and laughed. “Maybe you should take up a life of crime, Agent. You might actually learn to use your powers.” Then he reached out, touched her neck and she dropped, screaming.

Jones pulled Cassel up and pressed a gun to his temple. “Don’t move or I’ll shoot!”

Philip stopped and put his hands on his hips, raising an eyebrow. “Am I supposed to believe that you’ll actually shoot him?” he asked.

“I’ll put a clip through his worthless brain,” Jones snarled. “One less worker criminal in the world.”

Philip just smiled like a bad angel. Cassel was just starting to be worried when someone dragged Jones off him. The gun went skidding across the floor and Barron slammed Jones against a wall. “You’re pathetic,” he snarled and elbowed Jones in the face.

Grandad knelt down next to Cassel and started taking his handcuffs off. “We’ll discuss how outrageously stupid this entire thing was once we all get out of this, Cassel,” he said under his breath. He sounded angry, but not “I’m about to disown you and stricken you from the family memory” angry. Cassel decided to hold out some hope that everything would be okay.

“What are you all even doing here?” Cassel asked.

“I did some research on this whole hit on Patton and realized it was a setup,” Barron said. “I probably called you fifty times but you weren’t answering so I went to Philip instead. We both brought Grandad in.”

Cassel thought about all the copious calls from Barron. He’d thought they were about Daneca; he’d never dreamed that they might be about something important.

“That was really stupid of you, by the way,” Philip said. “I understand you being mad at Barron, but once he started calling multiple times you must have figured something was wrong.”

“It doesn’t matter right now, Philip,” Grandad said. “Let’s just wrap this up and get out.”

Philip nodded and kicked one of the prone agents who moaned. “How’s it going, Barron?”

“It’s going,” Barron moved away from Jones and on to the next closest agent. His hands were bare. He was working the agents.

“What are you making them forget?” Cassel asked.

“That we were here,” Barron said. “All of us, including you. None of us are taking the blame for this.”

Philip swore under his breath. Grandad turned. “What?”

Philip had an index finger pressed to the earpiece in his ear. “Someone called in Cassel’s attack on Patton,” he said. “The police are arriving now.”

Barron swore even more foully than Philip had. “I’m not done.”

Grandad looked over them all then asked, “Cassel, how are you? Can you run?”

“Yes,” Cassel said, even though his legs felt like jelly.

“Philip, how’s the blowback?” Grandad asked.

“Fine for now,” Philip said. “What are you thinking?”

“Take Cassel and get out,” Grandad said. “Barron and I will finish up.”

“You don’t need to stay,” Barron said, face focused on Yulikova’s face. “I can handle this.”

“I’m staying,” Grandad said.  _ “In case the blowback makes you forget what you’re doing”  _ went without saying.

Philip crossed over to Cassel and held out a bare hand. “Come on, Cassel.”

Cassel took Philip’s hand and his older brother pulled him to his feet. It felt strange; he couldn’t think of a time when he’d touched Philip’s bare hands. There was no time to think about it so he let Philip drag him out of the trailer and across the grass. It was cold, but the sun was shining.

Philip didn’t let go of Cassel’s hand as they made their way through the throngs of people. Cassel thought about pulling away, but Philip seemed really on edge, his shoulders tense and his grip tight. Cassel was afraid that if he tried to pull away, Philip might panic and work him.

It only took Cassel a few minutes to find the police officers who were parking their cars and rushing through the rows of trailers. Philip pulled him in the other direction. “How are we getting away?” Cassel asked.

“You’re either going to love this surprise or you’re going to hate it,” Philip said. “I guess we’ll find out.”

“Now I’m terrified.”

“And I’m worried about Barron and Grandad,” Philip said. “They’d better be okay.”

Cassel noticed that there was cold sweat breaking out at Philip's hairline. “Is your blowback starting?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Philip said. “But I’m not about to collapse. What about you?”

“Just tired now,” Cassel said. “I’m not about to collapse either.”

“Good,” Philip said. “Because we’re going to pick up the pace.” He broke into a jog, pulling Cassel along with him.

They ran across the grass and by the lines of parked cars until they reached a hideous but nondescript car with two familiar people sitting on the hood. It was Sam and Daneca.

They leapt off the hood when they saw Philip and Cassel. “Where are Barron and Mr. Singer?” Daneca asked.

“Still cleaning up,” Philip opened the back door of the car and shoved Cassel in and down onto the floor. “We need to leave.”

“Shouldn’t we wait for them?” Sam asked.

“Grandad said to go,” Philip replied. “I trust him and Barron to get out on their own. After all, if they finish the cleanup, as far as anyone remembers, neither of them will have done anything.”

“Okay,” Sam leaped off the dashboard and clambered into the driver’s seat, Daneca got into the passenger seat.

**[The following fragment is another attempt at this scene with Sam and Daneca.]**

“What are you guys doing here?” Cassel asked.

“We're saving you,” Sam said.

Cassel shot a glare at Philip who finally pulled his hand away and held them both up. “Hey, we needed a getaway driver. Since Mom’s under house arrest and it would be catastrophically stupid to call Lila when her father is the last person we want to know about your misguided attempt to become a Fed, they were the next best option.”

“Don’t look so sour, Cassel,” Daneca said. “We’ve been sitting here listening to the radio; no one’s even looked at us.”


End file.
